Pieces Of Paper
by Millazz
Summary: Addek. Addison and Derek are 17 years old. Addison is the geek in the front row and Derek has a small crush on her. That's all you need to know. R&R! Oneshot.


Derek nodded slowly as an agreement and held onto the piece of paper in his hand, the word scripted in it were now forever in his mind

I was once again surprisingly bored and then I saw this picture, it was a picture of a paper on someone's hand. The paper said Je t'aime. Then something popped into my mind. Then I just wrote, and wrote, and once again wrote. It took me 55 minutes to finish this one-shot and I feel quite damn proud.

I'd like to thank my **AMAZING** beta for this oneshot, **Emily.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Don't bother to sue me unles you want the coin from my pocket.**

-E-M-I-L-Y--I-S--A--G-R-E-A-T--B-E-T-A--E-M-I-L-Y--I-S--A--G-R-E-A-T--B-E-T-A-

17-year-old Derek nodded slowly in agreement and held onto the piece of paper in his hand, the word scripted in it was now forever in his mind. He'd probably never forget that word written in a messy hand-writing, he'd never get over it. Her, he'd never get over her. A small smile appeared on his lips as he nodded again and took another piece of paper, writing on the other side of the paper. '7 pm?' He tapped his best friend's shoulder and gave him the paper, so that he'd pass it on to the attractive redhead in the front row. Mark grinned at him and opened the paper, not respecting their privacy.

"Mark!" Derek hissed and slapped Mark's shoulder, making few of the guys look at them. They were sitting in the back of the classroom and were being ignored until now.

"Geez Derek, lucky guy." Mark passed on the paper which had the name 'Addison' written on the other side. A girl with brown hair rolled her eyes at the paper but still passed it on to a blonde girl in front of her.

"God Mel this is sooo third grade." The blonde one said, looking at the other Barbie-clone next to her. Mel, Melanie rolled her eyes at the paper and shrugged like she didn't give a shit. Only thing she cared about was the new Vogue and pink nail polish (though this season's hit colour was leaf green, like summer). Melanie took a sip of her diet coke and took the paper from her blonde friend.

"Geez, why would anyone send something to her?" She nodded towards the geek-looking girl in the front row with her red hair tied tightly in a ponytail. Now it was her friend's turn to shrug, she really didn't understand why someone would be interested in this geek. (Well that wasn't the only thing she didn't understand) The paper was passed to one of the Barbie-girls' friends, Trisha. She looked at the paper for a while, feeling slightly jealous as she saw the name scripted on the right corner of the paper. She had always had a thing for Derek. Sighing deeply she passed the paper to Addison, the redheaded geek, who smiled widely at his words.

She wasn't actually believing this was happening, she was just a geek. But for the past few weeks this guy, Derek, had been telling her the opposite and at least once a day had asked her out. She had said no every time, until now. Now she was ready, she had prepared herself for rejection. She had tissues, chocolate and a bottle of wine, just in case. But… maybe she wasn't as geeky as she thought. She read the message again before simply writing one letter 'k'.

She handed the paper to the girl behind her, the one that had a crush on Derek. The girl felt her heart shatter to pieces, she was actually helping Addison to get _her_ Derek. Addison didn't deserve this guy! She didn't even wear makeup like she did every freaking day, just for him. But did she get noticed? No. This geek sure did. She scoffed and handed the paper backwards to her friend Melanie who read the message as well. Melanie frowned her eyebrows together, pretending she didn't care. She gave the paper to the blond girl, Scarlet who rolled her eyes.

"Who does the hell does she think she is?" Scarlet hissed to Melanie, passing the message to the brunette behind her.

"Well she's the freaking president of the dreamer's land." Melanie said in a mean tone before giggling lightly. Scarlet giggled as well before carrying on doodling on her notebook that hadn't actually been used to write a word about the actual subject, it just had Mrs. Scarlet Sloan written all over it. Soon the message reached Derek and his friends. He quickly read the message and a wide smile graced his lips. He tried hard not to scream out loud, that's how excited he was but he played it cool.

"We're going out tonight." He simply shrugged and looked at Mark, he was the only one of his friends who knew that this meant more to him than he pretended. A small blush appeared on Derek's cheeks and he quickly hid it by burying his head into his hands, this probably made few guys think he wasn't happy with the date but the truth was the complete opposite.

10 minutes later the bell rang. The two Barbie's got up and walked out of the classroom and into the woods where they could take few puffs of their cigs and then return like nothing had happened. The guys left quickly, one of them holding a football, they were the athletics, clearly. The cheerleaders, all except Scarlet and Melanie, followed the guys to the field where they usually practiced. Only few people were left in the room, few nerds still dealing with their calculators, too focused on the current problem to stop. Derek neared the redhead and hopped on a desk next to her. "So I'll pick you up at 7?" He asked, not able to hide his excitement.

"Yeah." Addison laughed softly and sat on her desk, leaving the bag to the floor. "Where are we going? I need to choose" more like buy "clothes to wear." She asked shyly and tucked a wayward stray of hair behind her ear.

"Well I was thinking maybe movies" but that'd mean I wouldn't see you. "But I don't know maybe a nice dinner? Cup of coffee?" He suggested, his hands sweating as he realised he had nothing actually planned.

"A dinner would be good" as long as it's not Italian and I won't have to eat messy spaghetti in front of you. Addison cleared her throat and moved on the desk uncomfortably and the stray of hair again found itself on her face. She tried to blow it away, not managing so she had to tuck it behind her ear again. "What kind of a dinner?" She asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too messy or something she didn't like.

"I don't know really… Italian?" He shrugged and saw her eyes widening slightly. Oh fuck, what did he do now? "Addison?" He tilted his head to the side like it would help him understand.

"Italian sounds great." She said before realising that she had just agreed to have dinner with her crush. ITALIAN! With her luck she was going to drop a slice of pizza on her lap or spaghetti would mess her face! A relieved sigh left his lips and he smiled warmly.

"I'll see you later then." He got up from the desk and with that he left the class room.

"Yeah… see you." She sighed and then the sound of his steps faded away, only thing she heard was the clock ticking way too slowly and the intensive pressing of buttons on the calculators. She slowly got up, took her bag from the floor and walked out. Not even registering what was happening around her. Not realising that currently one of her friends was being stuck into a locker and a couple was making out against her locker. She simply didn't care for them. She just walked past them and in front of the next classroom, waiting for the class to start. No, she was actually waiting for the date that evening.

--

She stood in the hallway, looking into the mirror as her mother kept pacing in the room, every now and then smoothing down Addison's dress though it was perfectly okay. Both of them were nervous. Addison's mother had picked her out a beautiful dress, it was casual but still showed some skin, Addison hadn't even known she could wear a dress and show off her legs. The hem of the dress reached her knees, she had particularly said nothing shorter. They had gone shopping earlier, they had bought some dresses, a pair of shoes and there was a small ribbon in her hair. Her mother had used every hair product she knew to make Addison's hair more puffy, and had managed somehow.

Addison smiled at the girl in the mirror and turned around and looked at the back of her dress once more, making sure they had cut off the price tag and there weren't any strings hanging. Nope, everything was per-fect. She was ready for him. Once more she checked her eyelashes, her eyebrows, checked that it wasn't obvious that she had powder on. She bit on her lip as she looked at the expensive earring's that belonged to her mother. Then the doorbell rang. She looked at her just as shocked mother who escaped from the room, giving Addison's cheek a quick kiss. "Have fun sweetie."

"I will." She was still freaking out of her mind, and him ringing the doorbell for the second time really, really didn't help any. She looked at the mirror and wiped off her mother's lipstick from her cheek. "Damn it!" She cursed under her breath as she walked towards the door and opened it. Her jaw almost dropped and she went weak in the knees, the only thing holding her up was the door. His hair looked even better, she had doubted it was possible but… it did.

Derek's heart skipped a beat as cliché it sounded. He looked at the young woman in front of him. She looked absolutely beautiful, the dress fit perfectly and hugged every curve, flattering her body. How could he not have noticed that this girl was hot? Her red hair was even curlier than normally and it seemed to be even redder than usual, though that wasn't possible. That moment he knew he'd enjoy this evening even though he had doubted it, his friends had made him doubt this, her, them. But now… everything seemed to fit like a piece in the puzzle. "You ready to go?" He asked nervously and looked down to his hands so that he wouldn't blush.

"Yeah, let me just grab my coat." She smiled and walked back into the house, trying not to fall over with her heels. She never used them, this was… not normal. She grabbed a jacket from the closet near the front door and walked back to the door, for a moment she though he had left and tears sprung to her eyes.

"It's a beautiful evening." He was sitting on the porch chair, looking at her. She blinked away the tears and smiled, wow she was paranoid.

"Yeah, it's going to be beautiful." She looked at the sky and wished that she wouldn't fall with her heels and wouldn't mess her dress with the food. "You ready to go?" She spoke softly, trying not to sound too shocked, she had actually been scared that she had been rejected yet again.

"Yeah, I got my dad's car for this evening." He motioned towards a well parked car at the side of the road. He got up from the chair and held out his hand for her. She quickly linked hands with him though she was slightly confused, she hadn't done this relationship/date-thing before. They walked to the car and got in and made their way to the restaurant safely.

--

At the restaurant, after the waitress had left the two of them alone, the discussion started casually, they talked about school and then grades, the class, teachers, friends, gossip, everything normal you could easily bring up in a conversation in a hallway. Then the subject changed to her disappointment as he asked a personal question, well more like a suggestion, or an order. "Tell me about you." She stared at him for a moment, she certainly didn't want to talk about herself, she was too messed up, her history wasn't good enough for this perfect, pretty boy. "Tell me about the real Addison."

"You really want to know?" She asked as she placed down the fork she had been playing with, reminding herself to stab her friend with a knife, the one who had told her to accept the invitation and go out with this guy. She didn't want to tell him about her family or tell him how lonely she sometimes felt, how she felt left-out, how much she needed friends, or how much she cared for him though they had just gotten to know each other.

"Yes, I wouldn't be asking if I wouldn't." He nodded, not so sure anymore, he sensed something bad coming up.

"My parents divorced when I was 12, my father used to hit my mother, and me." She started and again started fumbling with the fork. Derek nodded as a sign that he was listening. "I… I drowned my sorrows to cigs and smoked for years and drank an unhealthy amount of alcohol. I… I was miserable. Then I got admitted to therapy, I stopped smoking and drinking and got myself.. back together." She nodded like she was still trying to convince herself. She knew all this would freak him out but she needed to tell someone. "I.. I began to read and read, I focused on school." She finished and looked down, a plate appearing in front of her from the right. Spaghetti, great, why did she even order it?

"Addy…" He tilted his head to the side sadly and shook it. "Are you okay?" His tone was kind… and caring. Neither of them realised she had just gained a nickname. Neither of them touched their food. She simply nodded and looked into his eyes. Then his blue eyes met her green ones. A blush decorated her cheeks and he gave her a sad smile. "I had no idea." He explained.

"It's okay, you really didn't know." No one did, she added in her mind, remembering how she covered her bruises with big shirts and took painkillers like they were candies. She had a rough childhood, hell she didn't even know if you could call it that. She nodded slowly and began to eat and he soon followed her example. Some of the spaghetti ended up on the corner of her mouth and he noticed this.

"Addy…?" He carried on looking at her mouth, making her look up from her plate.

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked at him confused. What was he staring at.

"You have some…" He got up from the seat and leaned over the table, wiping away the spaghetti with his thumb. She looked into his eyes and he looked back, their gazes locked. They stayed there, still, breathing, neither of them daring to move just yet. She blinked her eyes once and then looked at his lips. His lips collided with hers. This was something she could rely on… for the rest of her life.

-E-M-I-L-Y--I-S--A--G-R-E-A-T--B-E-T-A--E-M-I-L-Y--I-S--A--G-R-E-A-T--B-E-T-A-

Please review and feed my already **huge** ego. Thank you for reading this.


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